Thursday, December 31, 2009

Stargate Studios' Virtual Backlot™ is a proprietary technology that gives filmmakers unparalleled access to any location through a variety of techniques. These can range from totally immersive sequences shot entirely on green screen to simple set extensions that marry into principal photography.

The common thread between all the variations of the Virtual Backlot™ is that it has been designed as a seamless and unobtrusive addition to the first unit. The goal is to enhance the story as well as solve production issues. Each production has unique challenges and needs and the Stargate Virtual Backlot™ aims to meet those challenges and needs in a creative and cost effective manner.

Go to http://SilberStudios.Tv. Were here in Silicon Valley with more photography tips from our guest, Michael Soo, a very talented commercial and fasion photographer, and the recipient of Popular Photographys prestigious Photographer of the Year award. Hes had numerous cover photos and a whos who client list from his career in fashion photography.

Michael covers key photography techniques, including how to pre-visualize your shot, determining what story you intend to tell with your photos, how to learn simple lighting techniques and how to engage your models to build rapport. In this interview you'll get vital advice for key photographic tools, as well as Michael's inspiring stories from his own career.

For more information go to HTTP://SilberStudios.Tv Were on the edge of the San Francisco Bay with our guest Camille Seaman, a breathtaking fine art photographer. In this video, Camille discusses her top photography techniques for taking better photos. Listen to her tips on getting quality natural lighting in photos, using the right camera equipment, and treating every object you photograph as if it's a person.

Her photographs have been published in Newsweek, Outside, Men's Journal, Camera Arts, PDN, and American Photography and she has self-published many books. Her photos have received a host awards, including a National Geographic Award.

Blazing Fast Photographic Workflow Including Complete Selective Editing, Photo Organization Tools, and RAW support for all the latest dSLR'sAustin, Tx, Dec 30th, 2009:Bibble Labs, Inc today announces the immediate availability of the all-new Bibble 5 Pro Photographic Workflow application for Windows, Mac and Linux, bringing to market a new level of power, speed and control to digital photography.

Bibble 5 Pro excels in the areas that matter most to today's photographers, including flexible tools for organizing and managing digital photographs, the most complete selective editing tools offered in a photographic workflow application, and RAW conversion and editing speed up to 88 times as fast as other leading applications.

Real Power, Really Fast

Bibble 5 Pro includes a totally new, completely multi-threaded image processing engine, allowing it to process images faster than anything else. Efficient enough to be perfectly usable on netbooks and older computers, yet powerful enough to take full advantage of 4, 8, 16 or even more CPU's, Bibble 5 Pro is designed to fully utilize all the computing power available to it. On high-end computers, Bibble 5 Pro is up to 88 times faster in processing and exporting images that other leading applications, while on single CPU computers and more modest machines, Bibble 5 Pro can still be 2 to 8 times faster. "With dual core processors now being replaced with four-core processors, and with 6- an 8- and higher core count processors on the horizon," says Eric Hyman, founder and owner of Bibble Labs, "it's clear that utilizing the full power of those additional CPU's is the key to true workflow performance."

Total Editing Power and Freedom: Unrestrained Selective Editing

Bibble 5 Pro's Selective Editing framework allows its image editing tools to operate on the complete image or a limited portion of an image, fully integrated into a totally non-destructive workflow. "The ability to apply just about every tool Bibble 5 offers within freeform curves or brushed regions opens up amazing editing possibilities" says Jeff Stephens, President of Bibble Labs. "This exemplifies our commitment to building the most flexible, most powerful, and most widely available photographic workflow application." Essentially any image adjustment tool offered in Bibble 5 Pro - including 3rd Party Plug-ins - may be applied selectively to key portions of images, allowing an unparalleled level of creative control: quickly apply multiple white-balance settings to fix difficult or mixed lighting situations, apply noise reduction only to the deepest shadows, sharpen only key points of interest, the possibilities are endless.

Bibble Labs continues to offer the industry's only RAW-level plug-in API, allowing 3rd Party developers to write image editing tools that can access decoded RAW files, TIFF's and JPEG's directly within Bibble 5's image editing pipeline. With Bibble 5 Pro's plug-in API, every plug-in built for Bibble 5 is also open to the full power of Selective Editing, adjustment Presets, edit History and all of Bibble 5 Pro's other workflow advantages.

Asset Management: Innovative, Powerful and Flexible

Importing images into catalogs allows Bibble 5 to summarize information about the photos in that catalog which enables searching or browsing by a wide range of metadata. Such tools are indispensable when working with a large body of images; yet it is the optional nature of Bibble 5 Pro's Cataloging system that makes it uniquely powerful. "Catalogs and metadata searching and browsing are critical when working with tens of thousands of images or more" says Stephens. "But hand me a memory card with a dozen photos while I'm working in Bibble 5 - that's when its flexibility really starts to shine." Bibble 5 Pro allows the photographer to quickly switch to 'File System' mode, allowing them to just click on the folder where these few images are stored and go to work on them right away. Those images are not imported into the catalog, but all Bibble 5's other tools and capabilities can be applied.

Multiple Catalogs can be open at once, while browsing or searching across all open catalogs, which provide immense storage and organizational flexibility. Unique and powerful "Refine" browsing allows photographers to gradually narrow their photographic collection down to show only the images that are necessary at that moment. Bibble 5 Pro is the only photographic workflow application to provide this level of flexibility and choice in the critical decisions that each photographer faces regarding cataloging and asset management.

Solid Platform For Future Advancements

"We continue to be committed to bringing value to our customers after they purchase our products," says Stephens, "and we already have some exciting things in store for later versions of Bibble 5." Bibble 4 was upgraded and enhanced with major features twelve times over several years, adding major new components release after release. Bibble 5 will carry on this tradition, with the first free update planned in Q1 2010.

Availability, Upgrades, and Pricing

Bibble 5 Pro is available immediately for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers for $199.95 from http://bibblelabs.com. Bibble Labs customers who purchased Bibble 4 since September, 2006 are eligible for a free upgrade to Bibble 5 Pro. Earlier Bibble 4 Pro customers may upgrade to Bibble 5 Pro for $99.

Bibble 5 Lite will follow, scheduled in the first quarter of 2010. Bibble 4 Lite customers who purchased Bibble 4 since September, 2006 will have immediate access to Bibble 5 Pro until Bibble 5 Lite is available.

Bibble 5 Pro includes RAW support for many of the newest SLR's available, including Canon 7D, S90 and G11, Nikon D3s, and D5000, Pentax K-x, Sony's a850 and a550, and many others. Bibble 5 is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and has lower hardware requirements than many other applications in its class.

Bibble Labs, Bibble Pro and Bibble Lite are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bibble Labs, Inc. Noise Ninja is a trademark of Picture Code LLC. Camera brands and models are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

World Tech Update #96 - Dec. 23, 2009 - Year End Special In this week's World Tech Update we take a look back at our favorite gadgets, robots and prototypes of 2009. Our show includes wireless power from CES, TransferJet technology that lets you send data without wires, super thin and flexible OLED screens, gesture control technology that lets you control your music player with your eyes, gaming technology from Sony and Microsoft, brain machine interfaces from Toyota and Honda, a muscle suit that helps you lighten the load and the 2009 IDG robot wrap up. Find out what's coming up on each week's show by following us on Twitter (WorldTechUpdate) or check out our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/worldtechupdate

mauritius images, one of Europe's most important, independent and owner managed picture agencies, now starts its own microstock brand, "bestprice-stock". The label keeps which it promises: low-priced and high quality pictures starting from web resolution to A3, calculated according to a simple and clearly structured pricing scheme. On www.bestprice-stock.com, the user will find more than 600.000 pictures on many subjects that are directly downloadable from this site.

NEW YORK, NY, December 22, 2009 –Fotolia is part of a handful of companies that grew during the global recession, and this month, the online image provider celebrates its fifth anniversary. During 2009, the company saw its online library double to over 8,000,000 images and nearly 2 million images were downloaded every month. Since December 2006, membership increased nearly 10-fold, with over 1.5 million people worldwide now signed up to the site.

CEO Oleg Tscheltzoff explains the secret to Fotolia’s success: “Sourcing photos, vectors, and videos that are legal for commercial and promotional use from the most talented artists around the world has enabled Fotolia to provide incredible value. Designers, marketing, and creative professionals traditionally paid upwards of $500 per image in the past. Fotolia offers the same quality and usage rights starting at $1.”

Also contributing to the company’s success is an aggressive geographical expansion plan. Attention has returned to the North American market after success throughout Europe during the company’s initial years. Fotolia hired North American President Patrick Lor and Executive Vice President Garth Johnson, who were instrumental in the development of a major competitor. More recently, Fotolia set up shop in Turkey using its signature localization strategy.

As for where the company is headed, Tscheltzoff says, “As the economy continues to rebound, we will ramp up our global marketing efforts and continue to pursue our geographical expansion plans. Another key area is our video collection - it is the next wave of microstock. There is a real opportunity for contributors to set a precedence in this market and earn a significant income.”

About Fololia:Over 1.5 million people prefer Fotolia, LLC for affordable, royalty-free photos, vectors, and HD videos. With the introduction of the Infinite Collection, Fotolia became the first worldwide microstock organization to offer both crowd-sourced and professional images on one site. Founded in New York City in 2004, Fotolia spans the globe with websites in 10 languages and offices in 12 countries. With over 8,000,000 images to choose from, find it on Fotolia. www.fotolia.com

21/12/2009 Last Chance to Cast Your Ballot for Top 10 Masters Photographers.

Have you voted for your favorite 2009 Masters photographers and images? Throughout the year, thousands of photographers and other photo professionals have cast their ballots on Hasselblad’s online voting site. Thousands more have seen the 100 finalist works close up at exhibitions in Hong Kong, Copenhagen, New York, and London.

With the competition set to close December 31, now is the time to choose from among the 100 finalists in 10 categories: architectural, editorial, fashion/beauty, fine art, general, landscapes/nature, portrait, products, upcoming, and wedding/social. One winner will be chosen from each photo specialty.

REMEMBER: This year, for the first time, the public vote will be totaled and combined with the official jurors’ votes to determine the Hasselblad Masters winners for 2009.

Hasselblad will announce the 10 winning photographers on January 11, 2010. At that time, the winners will be given the opportunity to contribute to the Hasselblad Masters book, to be published by teNeues, focusing on the theme “Emotion.” The book and the Hasselblad Masters images will be presented in a major exhibition at Photokina in Cologne, this coming September.

To visit the online gallery and vote for your favorite images, click here

“The first release of Viveza was truly revolutionary and introduced the most effective way to selectively edit photos,” said Michael J. Slater, president and CEO of Nik Software. “With Viveza 2, we listened to a wide range of photographers and added even more control and a new level of precision to make Viveza 2 not only more powerful, but also an essential tool for anyone who regularly edits photos.”

Recently awarded a 2010 Hot One Award from Professional Photographer magazine, Viveza 2 – powered by Nik Software’s patented U Point technology – is the most powerful and precise tool available to globally and selectively control light and color in photographs. WithU Point technology, users can quickly select areas of an image to adjust by pointing and clicking and then using simple to use mouse-controlled sliders to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, structure, shadows, red, green, blue, hue, and warmth in a fraction of the time needed by other tools.

“It’s simply faster, easier, and more powerful than anything I've got in my own bag of tricks, which is why Viveza 2 is my new tool for making fast, accurate selections,” said Scott Kelby, editor of Photoshop® User magazine and author of The Digital Photography Book, Volumes 1-3. “This is a plug-in that every serious photographer has to consider, because now the rules have changed. After all these years, making accurate selections is still one area that gives even the pros fits, but Viveza 2 changes all that without the complexity and steep learning curve.”

Nik Software’s Viveza 2, offering support for Adobe® Photoshop, Lightroom, and Apple® Aperture, is available via electronic and boxed delivery directly from Nik Software (http://www.niksoftware.com) or through specialty camera retailers. A complete list of resellers may be found at www.niksoftware.com/resellers.

Viveza 2 retails for $199.95. Registered customers that already own Viveza can upgrade for $99.95 at http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza. Customers who purchased Viveza after September 22, 2009 are eligible for a free upgrade to Viveza 2, which can be requested by sending an email to supportus@niksoftware.com or calling Customer Service toll-free at 888-284-4085.

About Nik SoftwareNik Software, Inc. is a privately held company that develops software solutions for the growing digital imaging and photography markets. Established in 1995, Nik Software has become the recognized leader in digital photographic filter development and produces award-winning technology and software products for digital photography and imaging professionals including U Point® technology (http://www.upoint.com), Dfine®, Viveza®, Color Efex Pro™, Silver Efex Pro™, and Sharpener Pro™ software.

MELVILLE, N.Y. (Dec. 21, 2009) –Nikon Corporation (Michio Kariya, President) is pleased to announce that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has placed an order for eleven D3S digital SLR cameras and seven AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lenses to be used for photographic documentation.

The D3S digital SLR cameras and AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lenses ordered by NASA will be carried on the Space Shuttle and used to photograph activities at the International Space Station (ISS) in the future. No special modifications will be made to these products. They will be the same products available to end-users, confirming the incredible versatility of the D3S. This equipment will be used along with the Nikon D2XS digital SLR cameras, NIKKOR lenses, and Nikon Speedlights already in use at the International Space Station.

Nikon has spent many years contributing to NASA's study of space through the development and manufacture of advanced and extremely durable cameras as well as of NIKKOR lenses that make the most of Nikon’s optical technologies, and of which production has recently reached fifty million units. To date, NASA has captured more than 700,000 images using Nikon equipment carried into space. Space, however, is not the only extreme environment in which Nikon equipment is used. Nikon also provides official observation equipment used in exploring the Arctic. Nikon equipment contributes to observation and research of these little explored regions with durability, reliability and technical capabilities that stand up to even the most severe environments

• 1980: The “Small Camera”, based on the Nikon F3 and equipped with a motor drive, and the F3 "Big Camera", which utilized long film, were delivered to NASA. The “Small Camera” was used aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia launched the following year.

• 2008: D2XS digital SLR cameras were delivered to NASA. Six D2XS cameras are used in space to document activities such as inspection and maintenance

• In addition, approximately about 15 types of NIKKOR lenses (more than 35 lenses all together) are kept aboard the International Space Station for intravehicular and extravehicular photography to provide continued support for NASA’s space activities

The D3S was released in November 2009 as the latest flagship model for Nikon FX-format digital SLR cameras. This camera is equipped with a new CMOS sensor (36.0 × 23.9 mm) developed by Nikon and supports standard ISO sensitivity settings of 200 to 12,800. Sensitivity can also be set as high as Hi 3 (ISO 102,400 equivalent) or as low as Lo 1 (ISO 100 equivalent). Image-degrading noise has been minimized to enable shooting at high sensitivities under even extremely dim lighting. In addition, the D3S is equipped with the D-Movie function, enabling HD video capture and includes high-sensitivity movie mode and movie editing functions for trimming start and ending footage or saving selected frames as JPEG stills. Naturally, the camera itself is representative of an all-round flagship model offering basic performance and operation that meet the strict demands (fast, support for high sensitivities, superior image quality) of professional and advanced amateur photographers in a number of fields, including the press, sports and nature photography.

The AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED is the world’s first ultra wide-angle zoom lens to offer a focal length of 14mm with a maximum aperture of f/2.8. The performance of this lens has been extremely well received by the camera industry, and recognized by Europe’s Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), which awarded it The Best Professional Lens in Europe 2008, and the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA), which awarded it European Professional Lens 2008-2009.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Holidays provide some of the best opportunities to get great photos, if you remember a few simple tips. Here's professional photographer Nigel Barker of Americas Next Top Model, with great advice for getting the most out of every photo op.

Author: HowdiniGuruKeywords: holiday photo how to take pictures how to take holiday pictures how to take pictures pictures of holidays Category: Howto & StyleTags: how to take great good get holiday pictures photos photography guide tips tutorial digital camera professional nigel barker howdini

Here is a quick tutorial for you guys that is pretty useful and handy to use. A one object focus effect. Enjoy! I have more tutorials for you guys. Got a couple of 3ds max and AAE tuts, so yeah! - Zach Fx

Ever wanted to get your teeth looking great on all those facebook pictures? This video shows how! Please note that any copyright infringement is not intended and any violation of which will be removed immediately.

This is a tutorial that should really help some of you photographers out there. We will start with a base RAW file from an 8 megapixel low-end Canon digital camera and we will open it with Photoshop and use the Camera Raw editor to make these changes. Learn all about using the Camera RAW editor and what the different sliders do and why/how you can use them to create really bold effects to your photographs.

Austin, TX, December 10, 2009 -Photodex Corporation has released ProShow 4.1, the latest version of its award-winning photo and video slide show software for Windows. ProShow 4.1 makes it easy for users to get their slide shows online and in front of friends, family or clients with new integrated uploading to Facebook, Vimeo and Twitter. Version 4.1 also features an all-new Slide Style Manager and dozens of new, user requested features that help make ProShow better than ever.

"We know what a huge part social networking sites play in our customer's lives. It's a place for them to communicate with friends, family and even reach out to potential clients. That's why we integrated uploading to these sites directly into ProShow 4.1 and made it a very simple and quick process", said Paul Schmidt, President and Founder of Photodex Corporation.

Users with Facebook and Vimeo accounts can now directly upload their slide shows from ProShow Gold or Producer 4.1 to their profile. Slide shows are sent in video format in either normal quality or high definition. Once a new slide show has been uploaded, it can be automatically announced on Twitter using ProShow 4.1's new Twitter feature. ProShow automatically creates a new tweet announcing a show upload and provides a link for followers to view it. URLs are automatically shortened and a personalized message can be sent with each tweet.

Other notable updates in ProShow 4.1 include a newly designed Slide Style Manager which allows users to quickly sort, filter and manage styles in their personal libraries. Users accessing large libraries of Slide Styles will experience greatly improved speed when loading the Slide Styles dialog and previewing complex styles. ProShow 4.1 also includes dozens of new, user requested features including time-saving additions in the Slide Options dialog, new Theora video output, improvements to the Layers and Captions lists and more. A full list of new features can be seen on the Photodex website at: www.photodex.com/products/proshowgold/new.html

Pricing and AvailabilityProShow Gold 4.1 and ProShow Producer 4.1 are available now from www.photodex.com or by calling 1-800-37-PHOTO. Upgrades can also be purchased online or by phone.

About Photodex CorporationFounded in 1987, Photodex Corporation is a leading publisher of software for working with digital content. Photodex creates innovative products that enable users to create compelling slide show presentations with photos, video and audio, and to manage their digital files. Photodex's user-friendly, affordable software offers power, speed, and simplicity for millions of computer users worldwide.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Here's our first English FotoTV News. It is a news show in which we present interesting snippets of information on photography from around the world. What you see are the first 10 minutes of the show. See it complete here: www.fototv.com/fototv-news

I thought saying as we are heading towards the holiday season I thought it was time to do some techniques that you can have a play with whilst enjoying the Christmas break. Today I am going to show you how to create a floating border effect that is both non-destructive and very flexible to use with your photos.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

World Tech Update #95 - December 18, 2009 On this week's World Tech Update the European Commission ends its antitrust investigation of Microsoft, the US Federal Trade Commission files an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, Taipei's RFID Conference helps China and Taiwan work together, TeliaSonera launches the first LTE network, PhotoDNA helps find missing children and Final Fantasy XIII launches in Japan.

In this week's show Google introduces visual and real time search, Acer rolls out its first Android handset, BenQ shows off an e-reader, Cisco holds its annual financial analyst conference and talks about its future initiatives, Facebook privacy changes take effect, Panasonic shows off LED light bulbs at the Eco Style Fair and an iPod karaoke machine lets you sing along with your favorite tunes. Find out what's coming up on each week's show by following us on Twitter (WorldTechUpdate) or check out our Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/worldtechupdate

December 15, 2009 – Elmsford NY – Apps for the Apple iPhone®, especially those designed specifically for photographers, have proven incredibly creative and useful. One that has been welcomed by studio photographers is Mamiya’s Leaf Capture Remote for the new Mamiya DM system. This app transforms an Apple iPhone® or iPod® Touch into a remote image viewer.

This is the first application to permit real-time, on-set remote viewing of medium format images, enabling instant feedback on any shot.

Now, while the photographer is shooting in a tethered mode, other people on set – the creative director, client, stylist, etc. – can watch via a standard Wi-Fi network, without hindering the movement of the photographer or crowding around one monitor. The images are hi-res and the software allows viewers to pan and zoom using their compatible Apple device.

Leaf Capture Remote application version 1.0 is free and available now for download from Apple’s iPhone App Store. It supports any Mamiya DM or DL medium format digital system. Additional information on installation and setup of the server application is available through the Leaf Capture software link at www.Mamiya.com.

The Mamiya DMsystem of DSLR kits and Digital Backs offers photographers the ultimate in big-sensor image quality at very affordable prices. With models offering 22, 28, 33, and 56 megapixels, the Mamiya DM system continues to make Mamiya the brand of choice for today’s top professional photographers.

Just in time for the holiday portrait season, Nikon’s “Picture Yourself” survey revealed that if people could turn back time, they would choose to retake a family portrait (25 percent), a high school graduation photo (21 percent), a driver's license photo (21 percent), a wedding photo (15 percent) and a birthday party photo (7 percent).

With the holiday season in full swing, Nikon provided the following tips for taking mantle-worthy holiday photos this winter season. Whether you are taking photos with a point-and-shoot or D-SLR camera, these simple tips are sure to deliver great results throughout the holidays:

• Keep your eyes on the camera and look at the lens not the flash to avoid red-eye and blinking

• Find a simple background. It’s about the people not the holiday props (so lose the elf ears)

• Focus on what’s important. Faces! It’s called a background for a reason, so keep it that way. Nikon cameras also offer a great face detection feature to help you

• Don’t get too close when using a flash, because too much light overexposes faces

• Lighten up on the flash! If you're shooting holiday lights try turning off your flash and holding your camera very steady for a more stunning photo

• Try new angles for posing. Once you have your family and background set, take pictures from different angles to add some creative variety

• Take lots of pictures. The more pictures you snap, the greater chance you will capture a special holiday moment

Data also showed that whether you like having your picture taken or not, it’s practically unavoidable. Nearly every American adult (92 percent) had at least one picture taken of them so far this year. Among all American adults, 79 percent believe they looked better in person than in pictures. This data was consistent in responses from both men and women; 79 percent of women preferring the real deal to a photograph, along with 78 percent of men.

“Due to the overwhelming popularity of social networking and photo-sharing websites, it is almost impossible to avoid having your photograph taken and shared with others,” said Lisa Baxt, senior manager, Communications, Nikon Inc. “In line with the needs of consumers, Nikon’s newest COOLPIX products offer innovative technology and simple features to help consumers to look their best and solve common photo problems including red-eye, uneven skin tones and lighting issues.”

When it comes to common photo problems, Nikon’s survey also discovered that the most prominent feature people disliked about themselves in a photo was weight with 26 percent. Other features that bothered people in pictures were smile or teeth (18 percent), red-eye (16 percent), wrinkles (8 percent), shiny skin (7 percent) and pale skin (6 percent).

Additionally, Nikon’s survey results also showed that men are beginning to steal the spotlight. This year, men have had nearly twice as many photos taken of them than women. Men have had an average of 73 photos taken of them, while women had only a measly 38 photos.

The Nikon survey was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 nationally representative Americans ages 18 and older between August 12 and August 18, 2009 via telephone using Random Digit Dialing. Wakefield is a research consultancy specializing in strategic and tactical research for corporate, non-profit, and political clients.

Friday, December 18, 2009

ARNHEM, December 17, 2009 -- Today a new title has been added to BenVista's digital image enlargement software series PhotoZoom.

Following to their release of a new Pro version last Summer, BenVista now released PhotoZoom Classic 3.

With the new product, BenVista strives for widening the PhotoZoom user base. While the Pro version is designed mainly for professionals, PhotoZoom Classic 3 aims at home users. Accessibility forms a key factor here, both with respect to ease-of-use and pricing. Nonetheless, quality has been maintained as much as possible.

BenVista's CEO, D. Schoolwerth, explains: "The fact that PhotoZoom Classic 3 is designed for home users certainly does not prevent it from producing professional results. The software is equipped with BenVista's award-winning, patented S-Spline resize technologies. That includes S-Spline XL, a technology which until recently has only been offered by the more expensive PhotoZoom Pro 2, and which is known for its image enlargements of outstanding quality".

With regard to ease-of-use, Schoolwerth continues: "PhotoZoom Classic3 offers a number of S-Spline based presets that were specially designed for different types of images. With these presets a lot of preliminary work has already been done, and the user won't have to bother with technical settings. Results can be compared with one another in a large preview window. This way the user is able to determine in a fast and convenient way which preset is most suitable for enlarging the given image. For example: there is a preset that suppresses noise and compression artifacts. Perfect for images from the Internet!".

PhotoZoom Classic 3 runs as a stand-alone application, and is available for both Mac OS X and Windows. Free demo versions can be downloaded directly from the BenVista website: www.benvista.com.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

16th Dec 2009, Cologne – The InternetTV about photography – FotoTV, has today released its 150th video online at www.FotoTV.com. FotoTV has a vast collection of videos about all aspects of photography including photography techniques, interviews with famous photographers, editing tutorials and more. It adds two new videos every week to this collection. FotoTV’s stock of videos together with the new videos added weekly, helps it retain its position as world’s largest InternetTV about photography.

The founder and CEO of FotoTV, Marc Ludwig says, ‘We are delighted to reach another milestone. Our 150th video is also a special one, as it features David Douglas Duncan, the world renowned photojournalist. In this video, David Douglas Duncan speaks exclusively to FotoTV, sharing the story behind some of his pictures that brought him world fame’.

Adds Marc Ludwig, ‘ Reaching 150 videos was definitely arduous but it was also a lot of fun. We are really happy to see the English incarnation of FotoTV catch up with its German sister site www.FotoTV.de, which is the biggest of its kind in the world.’

In the last few months, FotoTV has been steadily gaining traction amongst photography enthusiasts around the world. The founder and CEO further adds, ‘ We can’t wait to get the 800 and odd videos that we have already shot, up and running for our subscribers. We hope that our plans to target english speaking regions through FotoTV.com pays off and soon FotoTV will be popular in these regions as it is currently in the german speaking countries’.About FotoTVFotoTV is that world’s biggest WebTV/InternetTV on photography. A huge collection of 600 videos spans all aspects of photography. Every video demonstrates through an expert photographer a photo technique, a lighting setup, a portfolio or post productions tips.The videos are based on the principle of “Learn by watching the Experts” through videos on the Internet – a hugely popular trend nowadays.15 of these videos can be viewed for free upon registration and the rest of the collection, including the two new videos added every week, is available at 85 USD per year.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Dreamstime is now one of the top 800 websites in the world and continues its record growth for all areas: members, buyers and contributors. The +10,000,000 unique visitors monthly, 2,000,000 registered users and +80,000 contributors make Dreamstime truly one of the leaders in stock photography.

The table above shows the new credits going into effect in early January (vs. current ones in light grey). Credits acquired until this update will enjoy the existent pricing.

From the photography experts at Joby, creators of the award-winning Gorillapod line of flexible tripods and the Gorillamobile iPhone stand, comes the Gorillacam, a free, feature-packed camera application for the iPhone.

Designed to extend the iPhone’s native camera functionality, the Gorillacam adds many features that are unavailable in the basic camera application, including a self-timer, time-lapse, and continuous rapid-fire shooting.

The Gorillacam’s self-timer function allows the user to set a custom time delay, which is ideal for taking group photos or self-portraits. At last iPhone owners can get into their own photographs and become part of the memories.

The Gorillacam is the perfect complement to Joby’s popular Gorillamobile for 3G/3GS, an iPhone stand with flexible, wrappable legs that attach to virtually any surface, providing iPhone owners unmatched flexibility for taking photos, recording video, watching movies, or talking hands-free. The Gorillamobile attaches to the iPhone via a custom engineered protective iPhone 3G/3GS case. When used in conjunction with the Gorillacam app, it opens up a world of new possibilities for iPhone owners and encourages “iPhoneography”.

In addition to the self-timer, the Gorillacam allows for extremely fast, uninterrupted shots, up to 1.6 frames per second. Photos save automatically in the background allowing users to fire off a sequence of photos. Also built into Gorillacam is a time-lapse feature that can take multiple photos spaced at user-specified intervals as short as 1 second or as long as 2 minutes.

Additional capabilities include:

Press anywhere – turns the entire screen into a shutter button.

3-Shot burst – takes three photographs in rapid succession. Never miss a second of the action. Plus, no more photos ruined when someone blinks!

Grid overlay – compose more interesting shots with a rule of thirds guide. Also great for lining up landscapes or buildings.

Bubble level – take level shots every time. Works in both vertical and horizontal modes, and is ideal for horizons or panoramas.

ABOUT JOBYJoby creates well designed product solutions that enhance the creative and active capabilities of consumer electronics. The Company revolutionized the camera accessories market in early 2006 with its Gorillapod line of flexible tripods and continues to redefine the consumer electronics market with its Gorillamobile and Gorillatorch product lines. Founded in 2005, Joby is a privately-held company headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with offices in Santa Cruz, CA; Geneva, Switzerland; Singapore and Shenzhen, China. For more information about Joby please visit joby.com.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Graphic Leftovers has a sleek new look, but that's not all...they have added lots of new features for both buyers and sellers to increase sales and make it easier to upload and manage your artwork. Here are just a few of the recently added features:

• Online live chat feature for instant help• More payment options for buyers: PayPal and Google Checkout• New multiple file uploader with IPTC support for large portfolios• iSyndica partner for fast portfolio uploading• Faster site performance• EPS and JPEG file formats to increase sales for non-vector buyers• Improved search with enhanced filters• Merchandise and Ultimate licenses available• My Favorites feature• More helpful site information and better organization• Robust account area with stats and helpful tools• Moneybookers and PayPal payout options• Referral program for buyers and sellers• Search within Seller's portfolio• 20% and 30% bonus for deposits of $50 or more• 100+ refreshed featured images on home page

Earn 52% on Sales of New Licenses Due to popular demand, they are now offering two new extended licenses: Merchandise ($45) and Ultimate ($85). Sellers wanting to offer these licenses will earn 52% of the sale price. You can add this new licensing to your images, in the edit mode of your portfolio. If you have a large portfolio and would like to participate, please email them and they can add the licenses automatically. Please read the full details of the new licenses so you are well informed.

Refer a buyer and earn 15% of their depositsFor example: A buyer referred from your website or a email link, deposits $20 into their account on Graphic Leftovers. You instantly earn 15% or $3. You will continue to earn 15% each time that buyer makes future deposits.

Refer a seller and earn 5% of their net salesFor example: You refer a seller who uploads graphics selling for $5 each. Each time one of their graphics is downloaded, the seller receives a net sale of $2.60. You will earn 5% or 13¢ for each sale.

If you are a seller, you are instantly enrolled. Go to your account to find your referral badges and links. Lean more on how the referral program works.

Fast Multiple File Uploading with IPTC Support Now Available Now you can upload 1 or 1,000 files using our Flash multiple file uploader with IPTC support directly on the site. They do have new file preparation requirements, so please review before uploading. Please note that you must have the current Flash plugin and Javascript enabled to utilize this uploading tool. If you are currently uploading via FTP, you may continue to do so.

14/12/2009 The Hasselblad family is proud to announce the addition of the newest member of our evolving family, Phocus Version 2.0.

As most photographers know, the Hasselblad range of digital cameras produces some of the sharpest, most detailed, and highest resolution images currently available. In order to get the most from these incredible files, we have developed a powerful processing toolbox that not only gets every nuance and detail out of the world’s largest raw image files, but enables advanced processing and image enhancement techniques. And now, with the launch of Phocus 2.0, the world’s most powerful image processing software has grown even stronger.

Phocus 2 boasts a range of new features, such as an improved user interface that drastically reduces the learning curve for high-end imaging. Even if new to Phocus, the average photographer will be able up to speed in less than 15 minutes.

Phocus can be seen as yet another step in Hasselblad’s efforts to provide the most advanced technology and the most uncompromising image quality in a format that is simple to learn and to use. So that you can concentrate on what’s really important - your photography.

To download or get a free demo of this exciting new software or to simply read more about what’s new in Phocus 2.0, click here.

Anchorage (ALSAKA, USA), DECEMBER 2009 (CEPIC) - In South American, Durga Archivo Digital de Imágenes, S.A. de C.V. in Mexico http://www.archivodigital.com.mx/ and Imageplus Produções Fotográficas Ltda. www.imageplus.com.br in Brazil have become Alaska Stock’s recent new non-exclusive representatives for its content.

Maybe these aren’t the first countries in the world you would think of where Alaska imagery has a wide appeal, but it seems there is a market and requirement for this content from both creative and editorial clients. Alaska Stock owner, Jeff Schultz noted, “Having Durga Archivo handling our image representation in Mexico is a wonderful addition to our overall global distribution plan. We look forward to a long relationship there.”

Gianfranco Coppola, Managing Director of Image Plus, Brazil says on representing this collection: “Alaska Stock has many great images and with an amazing quality. Their website is rich in content, stories, galleries, etc … Imageplus is proud to have such great content available for our customers. We do believe these images will enhance their work.” Mr. Schultz responded by commenting, “I am excited to see our images represented by ImagePlus in Brazil and feel they will have a unique market for our Alaska images.”

With the breadth of specialist material, Alaska Stock’s wildlife, landscape, seasonal and cultural images are internationally relevant and appeal to image buyers worldwide. Around 16,000 Rights Managed images have been carefully selected for their global significance and are now made available by Alaska Stock to its expanding distribution network. All images are available as single images and include a good variety of ready made features.

About Alaska Stock:Alaska Stock Images, founded in 1990 by Jeff Schultz, is a specialty photo agency with an offering of over 400,000 Rights-Managed and Royalty-Free images of Alaska tourism, summer and winter lifestyles, outdoor recreation, adventure, historic, wildlife, global warming and climate change, majestic landscapes, and photos from Antarctica and Canada. This collection continues to grow on a regular basis with over 50,000 images available online at www.alaskastock.com with in excess of 150 contributing photographers of the highest calibre. The full collection is available for sale directly from Alaska Stock’s sales team and around 15,000 Rights Managed images have been especially selected for their Alaskan speciality and international relevance and are sold worldwide via its international distribution network.

1. From now on DVDVideoSoft Free YouTube Download will be able to download video from YouTube in quality preset HD1080.

2. Unicode is now applicable for all YouTube programs. Now for example a German or English language user can download videos with title in any other language, for example, in Chinese, Japanese, Cyrillic, Arabic, Hebrew etc.

3. The following error: “The program was not able to create the output-file. Most problably you don’t have enough rights to create files or folders on this drive” – is fixed for the current YouTube settings and hopefully it will not bother you any more.

4. DVDVideoSoft programs used to have Cleaner.exe. This program seemed to be suspicious to DVDVideoSoft users and it was blocked by some antivirus programs, but in fact it is just DVDVideoSoft uninstall program! That is why now DVDVideoSoft changed name of the program for DVSUnistall.exe for everyone’s convenience.

"The latest edition of the NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8 lens advances one of the most popular fast-aperture focal lengths for sports, nature and wildlife photography, demonstrating Nikon's commitment to professional photographers through the continued development of the optical fidelity and sharpness for which NIKKOR lenses are famous," said Edward Fasano, general manager for marketing, SLR Systems Products at Nikon Inc. "Offering compatibility with a wide range of NIKKOR optics, including the new 300mm f/2.8, the TC-20E III teleconverter enables photographers to greatly extend the versatility of a variety of zoom and telephoto lenses they carry."

Whether photographing nature in the wild or the battles at a line of scrimmage, the 300mm f/2.8 is an essential tool for photographers who require the highest level of image quality for publication and printing. This 300mm lens effectively leverages a host of Nikon core technologies, including Nikon VR II image stabilization, specifically engineered for each lens design for maximum performance. VR II instills confidence by counteracting image blur introduced by camera shake and telephoto magnification, allowing users to shoot up to four shutter speed stops* slower than otherwise possible, overcoming many of the challenges of handheld shooting. If tripod shooting is preferred, the Tripod Detection Mode will detect and compensate for tripod-specific vibrations.

This professional lens is constructed of die-cast magnesium for maximum durability and is strategically sealed to resist dust and moisture, with protective Meniscus glass to safeguard the lens' front element. The optical formula features three Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass elements for superior sharpness, color and image quality, while minimizing chromatic aberration. Additionally, an aspherical element is used to promote image integrity throughout the frame, suppress coma and minimize distortion. The lens also features Nikon's exclusive Silent Wave Motor (SWM) technology which enables high-speed autofocus performance with exceptional accuracy and powerful, super-quiet operation. Nikon's exclusive Nano Crystal Coat prevents instances of ghosting and flare for even greater image clarity.

The AF-S 300mm f/2.8 lens features a host of professional focusing features that further enhance functionality. Photographers can now select from three focus modes to match shooting conditions, including manual mode (M) and autofocus with manual priority (M/A) mode, and the new A/M mode. The A/M mode enhances AF control with fast, secure switching from automatic and manual focus to adapt to personal shooting preference and techniques. Additionally, users can also activate the AF Recall Mode at the press of a button that allows for instant return to a predetermined point of focus to capture anticipated shots confidently.

Nikon's professional grade teleconverters, including the new AF-S TC-20E III are ideal companions to the new NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8 and other select lenses to create an affordable and portable gateway to extended telephoto photography. The new TC-20E III effectively doubles the focal length of select lenses, and is the world's first teleconverter to feature an aspherical element to virtually eliminate coma and other aberrations even at wide apertures.Price and Availability

The AF-S NIKKOR 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens is scheduled to be available at Nikon authorized dealers with an estimated selling price of $5,899.95. The Nikon AF-S Teleconverter TC-20E III will be available for estimated selling price of $499.95**. Availability of both products is scheduled to begin in January, 2010. For more information, please visit www.nikonusa.com.

*As determined in Nikon performance tests

**Estimated selling price listed is only an estimate. Actual prices are set by dealers and are subject to change at any time.